WHAT SPORT COSTS THE ENGLISH.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 81, 1 May 1909, Page 3

WHAT SPORT COSTS THE ENGLISH.

I £40,000,000 INVESTED IX GAMES. I AN AMERICAN VIEW. | England, according to an American writer in Seribner's Magazine, is a nation of sportsmen, "Sport here," he says, "is not a dissipation for idlers; it is a philosophy of life." and he goes on 'to state that "though England may lie lighting somewhere in her vast dominions, she is also playing somewhere all the same.'' Writing oi the relative importance of sport, the writer states: "The first thing to attract my attention on this, my latest visit to England, was the announcement on all the newspaper bulletins: 'England's Big Task,' I happened to know that the Prime Minister was seriously ill, that there was fierce dcbaling in the House of Commons upon the new estimates for the Navy, and upon the new Licensing Bill just brought in by Mr. Asquith, and that there was lighting upon the frontier of India with a certain tribe of natives.

"Hut England's big task had nothing to do with these trivial matters. An English cricket eleven was playing in Australia. The Australian eleven in their second innings had made an unexpectedly big score, and England's big task was to beat that score!"

The following table estimating the cost of spert is interesting:—

Spent | Invested, annually, 'ox-hunting .. £15,007,(100 £8,128,000 /Shooting .., 4.007,000 8,128,000 Fishing .. 550,000 589.000 Hating .. 8,320,000 10,503,000 Yachting .. 5.000,000 3.032,000 Coursing .. 520,000 317,400: Couching .. 200,250 237,7051 Polo ... .. 87.000 110,100! Golf .. ... 525,000 725.550Rowing .. 284,000 574.300. Football anderickot 10,703,000 11,712,000 'lhere are some 750 golf links in Great Britain. "We may conclude," says this writer, "tint some £40,013,250 is invested permanently and £44,775,515 is spent annually on sport, 'There isf'in short, an investment, in sport of about 25s for each man, woman,' and child in the United Kingdom, and a • slightly smaller sum spent each year for i sport." I Another interesting table shows the athletic games played during the past twelve months in the parks and open spaces of London:— I nOrounds Games ' Games. provided. played. | Bowls .. .. 7 4 24,7401 Cricket ... .. 452 28.004 ? r0( l ll(,t <• 31 1,5351 football ... ~ 231 10,228' Hockey .. ... 39 Lacrosse ... ~. 7. 120 j Lawn tennis .. 470 102,0401 Quoits .. ..30 2,063 Writing on the attendances at great football ties, the writer says that he lias calculated that out oi the male adult population of England and Wales one in every twenty-seven is in attendance at a game of some sort. The licenses to kill game bring in a revenue of more, than £185,000. '•The very speech of the Englishman' savors of sport," says this American. He did it off his own bat,' "He put his money on the wrong horse,' 'This is a painful game,' 'Let us,' or '.we had better : change the bowling,' '1 don't think he I can go the distance,' 'lt is an odds-011 chance,' or about anything the English-1 man is apt to express his feelings in the I words of the bookmaker and say: 'Oh 11 should call it a three-to-one,' or 'a five-' to-one,' or 'a six-to-one chance.' 'lt isn't i cricket,' or 'lt isn't playing the game' refers to any underhand or not quite straight conduct. "These and countless other expressions serve to express distinctions and differences even of a subtle kind. If you have hunted i n Ireland for a winter vou come away convinced that most of the stock phrases in conversation are invented by . the horses. The universal use of 'fit' to express one's condition, and or 'feed' for cat, are constant reminders of that habitation dearest of all to the hearts i of so many Englishmen, the stable." I